Katowice 2016 – Day of EYP Poland

On 11th of June in Katowice 80 young people from all over Poland took part in the Day of European Youth Parliament (EYP).

High school and university students working in six committees discussed cureent issues and challenges that Europe has to face, such as tax heavens, global warming or regions aiming to autonomy (e.g. Catalonia or Scotland). They work was supported by experienced members of the EYP, who were initially leading integrating activities that were aiming to ease group work and later moderating discussion in committees. Committee work took place in Adam Mickiewicz High School no. 3 in Katowice and was followed by the General Assembly in the Silesian Parliament. During that part delegates presented effects of their work throughout the day and debated on potential solutions.

“EYP gives incredible possibilites, it is an incomparable chance to broaden your horizons, improve your foreign language and gain knowledge, but more importantly it is a huge lesson about yourself and others – only in EYP we can easily travel around Europe and find a person to put us up in any city, make friends with people from different countries which existance is not familiar to some of our school colleagues and believe that exactly through these measures we can build the beautiful Europe of tomorrow.” claims Marta Sznajder, Vice-President of EYP Poland. Later she adds: “I am very happy that EYP has come back to Silesia for the third time. I am myself from here, I grew up in Gliwice and exactly there I organised the very first EYP session in this region two years ago. I am proud of this event and I think that the great success of the Head Organisers will definitely benefit the region and people that participated in the Day of EYP Poland will engage themselves in our activites and who knows, maybe in the next year we will have a greater event in Silesia?”

What is the most important, EYP is created by the youth for youth – based on the rules of volunteering. Head Organisers of the Day of EYP Poland in Katowice Dominik Frej and Aleksander Larski admit that the coordination of this sort of event requires a lot of work and devotion, but the satisfation the event gives you while looking on your peers debating and effectively exchanging ideas is priceless.

One-day events such as the one in Katowice give young people a little taste of how the true and long EYP sessions look like and they aim to encourage youth to continue their adventure in this organisation. The work of delegates was observed by the Jury, which gave a chance to 10 people to challenge their abilities in the foreign EYP session. Selected delegates will represent Poland during National Selection Conference of EYP Slovenia in Ljubljana and International Forum of EYP Germany in Menden.

How it was said by the Vice-President of the Day, Klara Birchley from Great Britain: “EYP day in katowice was an excellent chance for young people to get to know more about current issues that European Union and the whole world are facing now. What is more, the formula of the session enables to really engage yourself in the debated issue – not always you can say the same about the abstract knowledge you withdraw from attending to the school. Through an active participation, the participants contribute to self-development and the progress of our society.”